ABSTRACT
The history of women in audio has roots in the broadcast industry, where many women took over for men stationed in the war. Out of this era, women began to form record labels and become producers. Daphne Oram started the BBC Radiophonic workshop but left in 1959, shortly before Delia Derbyshire (composer of the Doctor Who theme) arrived. Later in history, women became employed as broadcast engineers and producers. Cathy Hughes founded Radio One, becoming the first African American woman to head a publicly traded corporation. Caryl Owen, Lorna White, and Suraya Mohamed recount their time at National Public Radio as broadcast/recording technicians. White is engineer for the NPR show, Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! Mohamed is a Peabody Award–winning engineer, sound designer, and editor. Ioana Barbu and Ann Charles are radio broadcast engineers; Charles also manages a conference called RadioTechCon. The emergence of podcasts has provided a way for women to learn about recording technology without barriers (real or perceived) while having the freedom to choose subject matter independent of the need to appeal to a mass audience. Careers in radio include broadcast mixer, board operator, chief engineer, and sound editor.
